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St. Vrain Valley school board cancels election with three candidates for three seats

7 candidates running for Boulder Valley school board seats

By Amy Bounds

Staff Writer

Posted:
09/05/2017 05:58:48 PM MDT

Updated:
09/05/2017 11:15:56 PM MDT

St. Vrain Valley, with no contested races because there's just one candidate for each of the three open school board seats, is canceling the November election. The candidates will win automatically.

In District B, which includes Niwot and southwest Longmont, current board member Debbie Lammers can't run again because of term limits. Niwot's Karen Ragland, a consultant for The Sullivan Group, will replace her in November.

Ragland is the secretary of Grassroots St. Vrain and co-chairwoman of the Bond Committee Task Force.

In the other two districts, both incumbents will serve for another four years.

John Ahrens will continue in District D, which includes Erie and southeast Longmont, and Paula Peairs will continue in District F, which covers Mead and northeast Longmont.

St. Vrain didn't have any contested seats in the last two school board elections, in 2013 and 2015, which also were canceled.

School board members are elected by voters districtwide, but represent specific geographic areas. Terms are for four years.

Board members in two of the three Boulder Valley seats can't run again because of term limits.

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The two are Jennie Belval in Broomfield's District F and Tom Miers in District E, which includes the eastern area of Boulder and Louisville with the unincorporated parts of Boulder County in between.

Incumbent Tina Marquis is unopposed in District B, which includes the northern area of Boulder and the northern mountain region.

Three candidates are vying for the Broomfield seat.

Alexandra Eddy is a stay-at-home mom and a student at the University of Colorado, where she's studying political science. She also graduated from the Boulder Valley School District.

Andrew Hendrickson works in health care information technology and has two children in the school district. His wife is a teacher in the district.

Kitty Sargent is a retired teacher and mother of two Boulder Valley graduates who works with LegalShield to help people get affordable access to lawyers.

Three candidates also are running for the District E seat.

Educator Donna Miers, the wife of term-limited board member Tom Miers, retired from Boulder Valley in May. She most recently worked as transition specialist, helping eighth- through 12th-grade teachers develop Individual Education Program plans.

Raj Rawat is an author, speaker and consultant at Reverse the Chase Project, along with serving as a mentor at the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business.

Dean Vlachos is an environmental engineer and the father of two Boulder Valley graduates. His wife also is a teacher in the district.

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